


houses out of cardboard boxes

by hungryghosts



Category: The OC
Genre: Awesome Ladies Ficathon, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-16
Updated: 2011-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-26 04:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/278484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hungryghosts/pseuds/hungryghosts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes less work to become the crazy bitch than it does to become the one everybody loves, and anyone will tell you that Julie Cooper is easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	houses out of cardboard boxes

**Author's Note:**

> originally written for the awesome ladies ficathon '10

The first time Jimmy says _I love you_ , all Julie thinks is _finally_ and then she thinks _I love you too_ , and the _too_ is very important here, but even more importantly, she believes him. He laughs and kisses her, and--this is the part that makes her feel so _stupid_ later--she feels like a fucking princess even though he's promised her nothing.

Julie doesn't even care.

The next time they have a Big Moment, she's spent hours willing a pregnancy test away and clutching at her stomach because she's sure she can feel the fear _growing_ there. Both of them are eighteen, they're definitely not ready for this ohgodohgodohgod, but Jimmy says they can handle it. Julie believes him here too, since well--what choice does she have? None of this is surprising really, if she's being honest (something that's always been rare from the very beginning; Mama warned her she was just fooling herself with this Jimmy Cooper nonsense), because, hell, she never expected to finish college, never expected to go anywhere.

But she also never expected to live in a mansion in freaking Newport.

You win some, you lose some, Julie figures. And if she can't get the world on her own, then she's not gonna complain when someone else tries to give it to her.

So Jimmy marries her, carries her out to Newport, and tells her things like _I love you_ and _Jules, this is what I want_.

Julie still believes him.

-

She believes him until she meets Kirsten fucking Nichol. Kirsten comes back to visit, all doe-eyed with blonde hair glinting like the princess that she is, not the one Julie pretends to be. Kirsten talks about college and books, and Julie can only stare at the ring on her own finger and feel the child growing in her belly and think about the look Jimmy gets in his eyes whenever Kirsten's laughter flows in his direction.

After that, it only takes Julie a couple of hours to decide she doesn't like Kirsten.

They're like Betty and Veronica, and isn't it just great, isn't it just wonderful, the only allusions Julie can make are to comic books. She bets Kirsten can quote Shakespeare or whatever, and isn't that just something too?

-

Jimmy tells her to make friends and be nice and it'll be easy and fun and good for her. He's wrong, but that's fine--Julie's stopped putting so much of her faith in him. She knows she doesn't belong here with these women, and they are women in all the ways she still feels like a little girl, even though Julie's towing a daughter of her own around now.

But that's fine, too. Julie can adapt. It's all gossip about love and relationships and money, and while she may not know much about the first two, she's learning a lot about the last one. So whenever someone smirks in her direction with a _Where did you say you grew up again?_ , Julie asks about Lily Benton's nose job and ignores the disapproving looks from Kirsten.

It takes less work to become the crazy bitch than it does to become the one everybody loves, and anyone will tell you that Julie Cooper is easy.

-

Everything is okay, though, because Jimmy is honorable and good and kind and he married her and gave her a whole new world and it's more than she deserves. Julie hears the way he says Kirsten's name, she sees the way he looks at his ex-girlfriend--his first love that he is completely and truly over--the wistfulness in both his voice and his gaze.

Yeah, Jimmy Cooper is a fucking prince.

It _is_ more than she deserves.

-

Each night, Jimmy absentmindedly places a kiss on her forehead, asks about her day, and she does the same. Sometimes, Jimmy remembers to say he loves her, and sometimes, Julie says it right back.

These are the times when her stomach flutters because he calls her Jules, when she can't help but smile at the way his hair curls over his forehead. These are the times that don't happen that often anymore.

-

Every story has a villain. Julie's just not sure if it's her or Kirsten or Jimmy or this whole goddamn town.

(But let's be honest, it's probably her.)


End file.
